"Litigation and legislative practice on matters such as bullying, stress, equal treatment, and psychosocial risks at work have assumed significance in the past years in many national legal frameworks as well as in the activities of international organizations and large companies. This is attributable to a variety of factors. On one hand, many new forms of work usually demand psychological rather than physical efforts and new forms of management and communications within the companies have triggered new hazards that can also be related to psychological disorders. Between 25-30% of incidents of ill-health and work absences are related to these factors, according to the Fourth European Working Condition Survey, 1 and it is predicted that these figures will increase in the future. Yet the presence of these problems does not necessarily require new ways of punishing those who are responsible, but it increases demand for mediation of disputes and requires identification of new ways to protect those workers who are potentially at risk. New forms of compensation are also required. The new legal requirements to prevent some of the behaviors that increase exposure to psychosocial hazards are not always well understood by social partners and legal professionals, for this reason their introduction requires a special effort of explanation. This paper first analyzes the debates on this subject at the international level with a comparative study of some European legal frameworks and the activities of international organizations and transnational labor agreements. ..."

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